


Young Volcanoes

by static_abyss



Series: Young Volcanoes [1]
Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-09 23:31:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/static_abyss/pseuds/static_abyss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boarding school doesn't seem like a bad idea in theory, because it means Nasir's father can't make the family move in the middle of the school year. In theory, it's a good idea. In practice, it may not be, especially because Nasir has no idea how to deal with Agron or the new group of friends Nasir suddenly has.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is intended as a fill for [this](http://spartacus2010.livejournal.com/432545.html?thread=2605729#t2605729) Spartacus kink meme prompt. There's talk of incest in this chapter though no actual incest occurs/will occur in this fic.
> 
> Rules at the kink meme say multiple fills are allowed so this is my go at the prompt above. I honestly don't know how this thing got so out of hand. I swear I was going to write a really short thing and then logistics happened and I had no idea what to do about Nasir's parents because high schoolers have those, and so I ended up setting this in a boarding school. I am old to fandom but I've never written for it. I fucking _swore_ I wasn't going to. But I did. I love this fucking fandom okay, so here guys. have something nice and happy and shit.
> 
> tl;dr I AM NOT EVEN SORRY

Nasir hates new schools. He hates it even more when it's the middle of the school year because everyone already has friends and no one wants any more. But Nasir's been changing schools every few years since even before the family left Syria, so he's somewhat used to it. This time there was a promise about staying until Nasir went off to college like his brother, and if he believes his dad, then by his senior year, he should have friends.

Nasir has already dropped off his things in his new room though he hasn't met his roommate yet. His father had decided that a boarding school would be the best thing for Nasir because this way they couldn't leave in the middle of a school year. Not unless Nasir's dad wanted to lose the money he paid for the yearly tuition. 

The school itself is supposed to be one of the best co-ed boarding schools in the country. Nasir's dorm parents are a nice couple named Oenomaus and Melitta who gave Nasir a quick tour of the building where he and the other high school students are sleeping. Nasir hasn't met the prefect yet, but Oenomaus said that he'd introduce Nasir to everyone at dinner that night. 

The campus, from what Nasir has seen this morning, is isolated, forty minutes away from the nearest city by car. There are many trees, a lot of grass, and brick walkways. As far as Nasir knows, the girls and boys sleep in the same modern, box like buildings. Classes are across the school property in three to four floored buildings with flat roofs. It's all very modern and annoying because Nasir had no idea where he's going. 

The map Melitta had given Nasir isn't helping, because north is on the left, building 3 is next to building 10, and everything is labeled with names instead of purpose of the building. The snow isn't helping either.

"Fuck," he says to no one.

"Are you okay?"

Nasir turns around. The girl standing behind him is wrapped in a thick wool coat, her dark hair peeking out from her hood, dark eyes staring at Nasir. He's shivering in his black jacket, his long dark hair is probably half frozen by now, and he's not happy. The girl narrows her eyes and moves closer, tucking the stray strands of hair into her hood. Her eyes widen as she looks over Nasir.

"You're new," she says, smiling wide.

Nasir likes the way her smile stretches across her face. He's also relieved that now he has someone to help. He thinks classes are supposed to start at 9. 

He hopes classes are supposed to start at 9.

"I'm Mira," she says, holding out her gloved hand. " 

"Nasir," he answers, taking her offered hand.

"So, what class do you have?"

Nasir hands over his schedule, trusts Mira knows where she's going, and follows when she starts walking. She moves well in the snow, trudges through it in her boots. Nasir has sneakers. He can feel his toes freezing and he's angry at his father for having picked the coldest country he could find to settle down.

"Oh, you have class with Naevia," Mira is saying when Nasir tunes back in. "She's going to love you. Well, your hair mostly, but you too."

Nasir doesn’t know what to say. It's okay though because Mira keeps going. "You have _beautiful_ hair by the way. Jesus, I'm so fucking jealous right now. What do you put in it?"

"Nothing," Nasir says.

"That's so unfair, you don't even know," Mira sighs. "And you have really long eyelashes too. And your eyes."

Nasir is working out what to say to her when she pulls the door open to a four floored brick building. There's ivy growing over the right side of the building, snow nestled in the spaces between the vines. 

Inside, it's warm enough that he starts shivering. The floors are polished black tiles, white clean walls on either side. The doors lining the hall are a light gray with black numbers on the right side. The hallway stops a few doors down, veers off to the left. A door to Nasir's left leads to another hallway lined with lockers and students. 

Nasir stuffs his hands into his pockets and follows Mira off to the lockers. She pulls off her hood as she walks and shakes out her long dark hair. 

"Naevia," she calls out, waiving. "Come here."

A girl moves away from a group of students and makes her way over to Mira and Nasir. She's pretty too, thin, dark skinned, with short brown hair, and wide brown eyes. Her eyes get wider when she spots Nasir, cold and half wishing no one actually wanted to talk to him. He doesn’t like the attention, and he doesn’t like the way the people behind the girl, Naevia, have gone quiet.

"Is he new?" Naevia asks.

"Yup," Mira nods. "I found him outside. He was lost. You're going to help him."

"Hi," Naevia says, holding out her hand. "I'm Naevia."

Nasir shakes her hand too. "Nasir."

"Who's new," someone calls out from over Naevia's shoulder. "Who's that?"

"His name's Nasir," Mira yells back. "He's new."

Nasir winces. "Yeah," he whispers. "I am."

There's a yell from further down the hallway and Nasir has no clue what to do. There are so many of them, guys and girls all staring at him. There's one girl, wild blonde hair tossed over her shoulders, who leers at him.

"Can I touch?" the blonde asks.

Naevia is the one who takes pity on Nasir and pulls him away from the lockers. There are loud groans from the mess of students and Nasir doesn’t know if he's supposed to be scared or not. Mira just laughs at him, hands back his schedule, and disappears into the group of students. 

"Sorry," Naevia says when they make it to the empty hallway. "It's just, there's never anyone new. Most of us have been here for years and we've never seen anyone new. I've been here since I was in first grade. And, aside from that year where we got fifteen new students at once, there's never been anyone. Or, no one who comes in the middle of the school year."

"Yeah," Nasir shrugs. "My dad's company decides when we move."

"That must be hard," she says. "But you're not moving until at least this school year's over, right?"

"We're not supposed to move until I go to college," Nasir shakes his head. "But that's two more years, plus whatever's left of this one."

"You're a sophomore then?"

Nasir nods.

"You must be good at math. I'm a junior and we have the same math class," she says, looking over his schedule. "I can show you where your next class is after math if you want."

"That's okay. You don't have to," Nasir assures her, even though he has no clue what building they're in, or what his next class even is.

Naevia stares at him, shakes her head. "I'm taking you to your next class."

Nasir grins at her and they walk down the hall together. Their class is on the second floor, the hallways up there an exact replica of the ones downstairs. Naevia tries to fill Nasir in as best as she can before their teacher comes in. Classes start at nine and end at four for the high schoolers. The younger kids have class on the building next to this one from eight to two. Breakfast is at eight and dinner is at six. Nasir finds out that he, Naevia, and Mira are in the same dorm building and that they have lunch in the recreation building at one.

"It's a lot," Naevia says when she's done explaining. "But you'll figure it out."

Nasir just stares at her until Naevia laughs.

The rest of the students come in fifteen minutes before class is supposed to start. Most of them are the same people from downstairs. Nasir recognizes the blonde girl. She winks when she passes his desk and sprawls out in the desk in the back left corner of the room. A blond guy with hair almost as wild as the girl's takes the seat next to her. 

"The girl's Saxa," Naevia whispers. "The guy next to her is Gannicus. Don't mind them, they're insane."

Nasir sits at his desk, his backpack at his feet and tries not to stare too hard at Saxa when she and Gannicus start making out. A short muscular guy with short brown hair takes the seat in front of Saxa. He starts talking to the two of them, waiving around his notebook. Saxa and Gannicus ignore him.

"Lugo," Naevia says. "He's nice."

Crixus is Naevia's boyfriend and he glares at Nasir when Naevia introduces them.

"Is that where you were?" Crixus asks, looking Nasir up and down. 

"He needed help," Naevia explains. "Now be quiet. You're going to scare him."

Crixus looks unimpressed. 

Naevia names a few more of the people who come in, but Nasir doesn’t catch anyone's name but the guy named Castus. In Nair's defense, the guy is all dark muscle and dark eyes. And he has cheekbones that Nasir wants to run his fingers over. 

"Castus doesn't have a roommate yet, does he?" Naevia asks Crixus.

Nasir tries not to look too hopeful. 

"I don't know," Crixus shrugs.

"You'll like him, I think," Naevia says. "He doesn’t say much, but only because he and Agron hate each other, and Agron has more friends because he's been here longer."

"Agron is a fucking asshole," Crixus says.

From the way Naevia doesn't even bat an eyelash, Nasir assumes she's heard this before. "Which one's Agron?" he asks.

"The one with the huge head and the small dick."

Naevia rolls her eyes. "He's the one who comes in five minutes after class starts—"

"—because Duro is too dumb to walk to class on his own."

" _Because_ ," Naevia amends. "Agron is a bit overprotective. Duro hates it, but I think it's nice that Agron cares."

"It's stupid."

Nasir watches as Naevia turns around to whisper at Crixus. He's fascinated by the soft look on Crixus's face, the way he takes Naevia's hand and kisses the back of it. No one notices when the teacher walks in, and it takes the man three tries to get the class to shut up. 

They're just starting to settle down when Agron walks in. Or, Nasir assumes it's Agron since he walks in six minutes late. 

Naevia says something, but Nasir is distracted. 

Agron is tall, taller than all the people Nasir's seen at the school so far. He has short hair, styled up in half-hearted spikes, and green eyes that land on Nasir. Agron's wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with the name of the college on the far side of the campus, far enough from the boarding school that no one ever sees the college kids, according to Naevia. They stare at each other for a second, and then Agron's eyes slide down and over Nasir. He can almost feel the once over like a caress on his skin, and Nasir holds back a shudder. Agron grins, the corner of his eyes wrinkling with it, dimples deep on his face. He lets his hand trail over Nasir's desk when he walks by.

Nasir exhales when Agron passes, then leans across his desk towards Naevia. "Does _he_ have a roommate?" he asks.

Naevia just laughs.

Nasir doesn’t ask again, but he can feel Agron's eyes on the back of his neck. When he bends down to get a pen from his backpack, Nasir can see Agron watching him from the corner of his eyes. It doesn’t help that Agron moves up to sit behind Nasir in the middle of class and spends the rest of the class time tapping his pen against his desk. Nasir spends the same half hour deciding whether he hates Agron or not.

At the end of class, Nasir is glad of two things. One, the teacher didn't make him get up and introduce himself. Two, Agron has to stay behind so Nasir can get out of the room without actually punching him in the face. 

Naevia walks him to his next class where Nasir has to stand up and say who he is and why he's there. The class won't stop staring at him after that and he's glad when it's over and he can get out. He has no problems getting to his other classes because he figures out that all of his classes are held in the same building. But after English Literature, Nasir ends up by the lockers trying to figure out which of the squares on his map is the recreation building. 

"Need help, new kid?" a deep voice asks.

"Yeah," Nasir sighs, relieved. He glances up and there's Agron grinning down at him.

He must have changed sometime between the morning and now, because he's in dark jeans now and a loose white t-shirt. Nasir raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. He, himself, is wearing the black slacks and the white button down the school demands everyone wear. It's not exactly a uniform, but, as far as Nasir's seen, no one else is wearing jeans.

"Like what you see?" Agron asks.

Nasir can't help his own answering smile. "I," Nasir starts. He's flattered, and a little smug, that someone's already hitting on him. 

"Leave him alone, Agron," someone says from behind Nasir.

Agron raises his hands and takes a step back, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. "I wasn't bothering him, Spartacus," he looks back at Nasir. "Was I bothering you?"

"No," Nasir says, raising an eyebrow.

He turns around to look at the guy who spoke. Spartacus is just a bit taller than Nasir, with a soft round face that makes him look younger than he probably is. He has a wide smile, dimples, and light eyes that look green from where Nasir is standing.

"Where's Duro?" Spartacus asks, coming over.

"He's probably at lunch," Agron shrugs. "He can find his way there on his own."

Spartacus nods, but Nasir feels like he's missing something. He can't ask what the exact relationship between Duro and Agron is, but he has a feeling he wouldn't like what he'd hear anyway. 

"We were going to lunch," Agron says nodding towards Nasir. "I was just going to ask what the new kid's name was."

"Nasir," he says.

"Nice to meet you," Spartacus nods.

"You're too fucking polite," Agron shakes his head. "No one says nice to meet you in real life."

"Oh," Spartacus says, an amused smile on his face. "What do people say in real life then?"

"They say, hi, my name is Agron. You should join the soccer and football teams because that's what I'm in," he pauses, glances around the hallway, and leans in to fake-whisper at Nasir. "You don't want to join the chess team. That's what Spartacus is on."

Nasir tries very hard not to smile. He doesn't think he succeeds, and the grin on Agron's face confirms it. It's annoying, because everyone keeps mentioning Duro, but Agron's flirting as though he doesn't walk Duro to class every day.

"So, where are you from, new kid?" Agron asks.

The three of them fall into step and Nasir does his best to keep up with Agron's questions. Spartacus is quieter and Nasir thinks he knows who he likes best even before they get to the recreation building. It's two buildings over, in front of the snow covered track field. There's a huge fountain with who Nasir assumes is Zeus from the thunder bolts in its hand. He's not sure because there's a thick layer of snow over the inscription.

The cafeteria turns out to be exactly what Nasir expected, loud and full of kids. No one looks younger than fourteen or older than eighteen, so Nasir assumes this is the high school lunch period. There are five rows of long benches attached to white tables spread out in the high ceiling cafeteria. Nasir starts to panic, but Naevia comes over almost as soon as Spartacus goes off to talk to Mira.

"Hey," Naevia smiles. "Come on, you can sit with me and Crixus."

Nasir turns around to invite Agron, but he's gone. 

"How were your classes?" Naevia asks.

Nasir follows her to the lunch line, spills out something about his day, and then follows her to one of the lunch tables at the back right corner, next to the wide windows that look out into the track field. There are a few people making their way across the snow, but everyone seems to be inside for the most part.

Crixus nods in Nasir's general direction when he and Naevia sit down across from him. Nasir nods back. He's not sure what he's supposed to make of Crixus, but Naevia's nice and she likes Crixus, so Nasir will reserve his judgment. 

He looks around the cafeteria and sees Mira in line with Spartacus. Behind them is Agron with another boy who, Nasir assumes, is Duro. Agron has his arm around the kid, his hands animated as he talks. Nasir tries not to be disappointed when he sees Duro's light eyes and his young open face. Duro's looking up at Agron as though he wants to be nowhere else, and it's all tremendously disappointing.

"Are they always together?" Nasir asks watching Agron laugh with Duro.

"Usually," Naevia answers. "Ever since Duro got into trouble with some of the college kids when he was in eighth grade."

"They sent the kid to the hospital," Crixus says, and even he sounds sympathetic. "He was the one who started the fight, but four against one little eighth grader is just shit."

"Agron hasn't let him out of his sight since then. He's not obvious about it," Naevia explains. "Like, in the mornings, Agron will have a cigarette with Duro and they'll just end up walking to where Duro has his classes. And he and Duro always end up on the same sports teams even though Agron always joins first."

"That's only because Spartacus can't keep his mouth shut about anything," and Nasir is starting to think that the only person Crixus actually likes is Naevia.

"Spartacus is your friend, remember," Naevia says, smiling at the surprise on Nasir's face. " _Agron_ is your friend."

"Agron is _not_ my friend."

"Crixus and Spartacus helped Agron with the college kids."

"Only because Agron can't fight for shit," Crixus explains, not even looking up from his lunch.

"What happened?" Nasir asks, curious despite himself.

Crixus snorts. "What do you _think_ happened? We were three fifteen year olds. They were four twenty year olds."

Nasir frowns, "and they beat up an eighth grader?"

"Yeah," Naevia says. "They college kids were expelled, but Agron ended up needing stitches, and he, Crixus, and Spartacus were put on probation."

"Who was put on probation?" Mira asks slamming her tray down next to Naevia.

"Spartacus, Crixus, and Agron apparently," Nasir tells her.

" _Oh_ , are you guys talking about the thing with Duro?"

"What about Duro?" Spartacus asks coming over in time to overhear Mira. 

"Naevia and Crixus were telling Nasir about the time the three of you beat up the college kids," Mira says

"That's not what happened," and when Nasir looks up, it's Saxa who's speaking. She takes a seat next to Gannicus who is on Crixus's right.

"You got the shit beat out of you," Gannicus says, "because you didn't wait for me like you should have."

"We didn't need your help," Crixus answers.

"Yeah you didn't," Saxa laughs. "That's why Agron cried when he had to get stitches."

"Fuck you, I did _not_ cry," and Nasir looks up just as Agron sits across from him. Duro takes a seat next to Agron and from this distance, Nasir swears he can see a slight resemblance. He tries to tell himself that he's not reading too much into it.

"You did though," Duro says.

The entire table roars with laughter even as Agron punches Duro on the shoulder.

Nasir loses track of how many people sit at their table after that. He gets introduced to Lugo, Donar, a pretty blond named Chadara, a dark skinned boy with curly hair named Pietros who gives Nasir a long once over. Nasir returns the favor and Pietros grins at him.

"So," Agron interrupts just as Nasir leans forward to talk to Pietros, "how's Barca?"

"He's good," Pietros says. "He likes his roommate."

Agron nods. "Barca is Pietros's boyfriend," he explains to Nasir. 

Duro coughs into his pasta and pointedly doesn't look at Agron.

"Are you okay?" Nasir asks, frowning.

Duro looks up from his food and grins. "Yeah," he says. "I'm fine."

"So, Nasir," Agron says, fighting to keep the glare off his face. "If you need anyone to show you around, I'm available."

Nasir swears he can hear Crixus rolling his eyes from where he's talking to Spartacus. "You mean you're desperate," Crixus calls out.

"Fuck you," Agron yells back. "I'm never desperate."

Duro coughs again and Nasir watches Agron's eyes widen. "Shit," he says. "I didn't mean I fuck around. I just—"

"—have people available," Pietros finishes for him.

"A new one every week, was it," Chadara adds from Naevia's right.

"Last week he said he could get it whenever he wanted it," Mira yells from her end of the table.

Nasir can understand that though. Agron is good looking, hot actually, with his jeans and t-shirts. He has a way of sauntering into a room, his grin in class that morning was more of a dare than a welcome. He's big, looks like the kind of guy who you wouldn't want to get angry. He doesn’t intimidate because he's serious like Crixus. Agron looks angry, like he's a step away from punching everyone in the face.

"You fuckers are the reason I chain smoke," Agron sighs.

There's another round of laughter and Nasir catches sight of Duro. When he laughs, Duro almost look like Agron. The longer Nasir looks, the more family resemblance he can see. They have the same eyes, the same build, except that Duro's face is softer, more rounded.

Nasir narrows his eyes and stares at Duro long enough for Duro's face to go red. 

"What?" Agron asks, and he sounds angry.

Nasir turns to look at him instead, back at Duro, then Agron again. He can hear Pietros laughing. "Are you two brothers?" Nasir asks Agron.

"Yeah," Agron says. "What did you— _oh_."

"Ew," Duro says wrinkling his nose. "Ugh, gross. He's my brother."

"Shut the fuck up. You wish you could get with someone who looks like me."

" _No_. That's incest."

"And generally frowned upon by society," Naevia calls.

"It's not like they could get each other pregnant though," Saxa says. 

"Why are we talking about this?" Spartacus asks towards Nasir's general direction.

"No, wait," Mira interrupts. "Isn't the reason why there are laws against incest because it's bad for the baby? But what if you couldn't get each other pregnant?"

"Everyone needs to _shut the fuck up_ ," Crixus growls, glaring at the people around him.

Nasir watches the ensuing argument half awed, half scared. When he looks back at Agron and Duro, they both have matching horrified looks on their faces. Nasir laughs, laughs harder when Agron gives him a slightly betrayed look.

"Sorry," Nasir says between laughs. "Your faces."

"What about my face," Duro glares.

Agron's face just goes soft as he looks at Nasir and when Nasir sees it, the laughter dies in his throat. Nasir can feel his heart thumping away in his chest, hears it like a beat in his ears. He doesn't know what he's supposed to say or how he can get Agron to stop smiling at him like that. He's not really sure if he wants Agron to stop either.


	2. Chapter 2

Nasir walks back to his evening classes with Duro, Pietros, Chadara, and of course, Agron.

"Don't you have class?" Nasir asks.

"Over there," Duro nods pointing in the opposite direction from where they're walking.

"But you like me here," Agron says. "I make your day better just by being here."

"Right," Chadara says, batting her eyelashes at him.

Nasir's amused at the horrified look on Agron's face. Chadara winks, loops her arm through Nasir's, and pulls him away towards Pietros. Nasir lets her because he's coming to understand that it's better to just let things happen when he's with these people.

The wind is cold against Nasir's face when he and Chadara turn the corner. He tucks his hands into his jacket pockets and Chadara nestles closer at his side.

"I hate her," Nasir hears Agron telling Duro. "I hate you," he calls out louder.

"That's what you get for being slow," Chadara laughs finally catching up to Pietros and linking her free arm with his too.

"Nasir, hey, Nasir," Agron says running up. "Do me a favor?"

Nasir ignores Pietros's low whistle and nods. 

"Watch Duro for me," he says, cheeks pink from the cold. "I have to get to class."

Nasir looks back at Duro who gives him a wide eyed nod. "Yeah," Nasir frowns. "Sure."

"Cool," Agron grins, the smile slipping onto his face naturally. "I'll see you at the dorm after classes."

"We have the same dorm?" Nasir asks.

"Yeah," Pietros nods. "All the high school kids sleep in the same building."

"Don't tell him everything," Agron says. "I'm supposed to be showing him around."

"You should be in class," Chadara says, turning her head to motion Duro over.

Agron narrows his eyes in Chadara's direction, but she just turns away and keeps walking, pulling Pietros and Nasir along.

"Bye, Nasir," Agron says, stuffing his hands into his pockets and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Don't let anyone else impress you while I'm gone."

Nasir blinks, taken aback by the forwardness. He likes the idea that Agron is direct, but it feels too soon, kind of like a claim on the new kid. It's the way Agron blew off Pietros before Nasir could even talk to him. Then there was the pencil tapping in class, the smug smiles on Agron's face. He's irritating, not exactly like the bad boys Nasir is used to, but close enough that he's apprehensive, doesn't know if he should take Agron seriously.

"Why?" Nasir asks Duro once Agron's gone.

"He's trying to impress you," Duro says, looking smug. "By asking you to watch me he's telling you he trusts you or some shit. I forget the quote. Are you impressed?"

"No," Nasir says. "You're sixteen years old. You can walk to class by yourself."

"Good," Duro nods. "Don't be. You wouldn't be able to keep up with Agron."

Duro's still smiling so Nasir can't tell if he's supposed to be offended by that or not. 

"Agron's a bit thick headed," Pietros explains over Chadara's head.

"A _bit_ ," Duro says, his voice going high on the last word.

"He's co-captain of the football team," Chadara says. "So what if Nasir can't keep up with him? I bet Agron wouldn't mind taking over. He looks more than capable of doing the work for two."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nasir frowns, even as his face heats up. He's glad for the cold winter air that whips around them as they walk.

"Please," Chadara says. "You'd have to be blind not to notice all that muscle."

"Can we please stop talking about Agron's muscle?" Duro asks, voice pained.

"You know, there's a reason Agron's co-captain and not captain, Pietros says, and Duro shoots him a grateful look.

"Yeah," Duro grins. "Because he wasn't going to let Crixus boss him around."

"Spartacus _wanted_ Crixus to take over though," Pietros points out. "Agron was new and Crixus had been on the team longer."

"That doesn't mean shit. Agron was just as good," Duro says, and Nasir tries his best to understand what they're talking about.

They walk past the vine covered building where Nasir had classes that morning, but everyone keeps walking. Nasir looks over at Pietros and Duro but the two of them are arguing over the football team, about how awesome Duro's passes are. Chadara just looks bored.

They keep on the brick walkway, past a large area of snow with bright green patches of grass peeking out from underneath. There's a tree to their right and another four story building with large windows on their left. Up ahead, Nasir can see the end of the path, a narrow street that leads to a larger field of snow. In the distance, there is the outline of three snow covered buildings and a large sign that Nasir can't read from where he is.

"That's the college," Chadara says, tugging Nasir to the left when they get to the end of the path. "We're going up this hill."

The wind picks up when they start climbing the hill and Nasir shivers in his thin jacket. He tries to remember if he has thicker layers in his luggage, but his mother did all the packing. The rest of them look comfortable enough in their thin layers: Chadara in her gray pea coat and Pietros in his dark gray fleece coat. Duro even has his black windbreaker open.

"Is it always this cold?" Nasir asks.

"Yes," Duro answers.

"Oh, sorry," Chadara says when she sees Nasir trying to disappear into his jacket. "Come on. We're right at the top."

The building at the top of the hill looks older than the ones Nasir's seen so far. It’s a gothic structure, with high towers raised above the roof. There is an archway above the wooden door and three steps leading to the entrance.

"It's the library," Pietros says. "The second floor has rooms for classes."

"This is where we have our study period," Chadara explains, nudging Pietros towards the door.

"Study period?"

"We sit and pretend like we care," Duro says climbing up the steps. "You'll see." 

Nasir steps into a small ten foot by fifteen foot room past the outer door. There is a wet mat on the floor just inside meant for them to wipe their shoes on. The little room is lined with umbrellas, even some rain boots, and an electric heater. A set of glass doors in front of him leads to the actual library and Chadara is already walking through.

There are two small steps to climb past the glass doors. Immediately to the left of the steps is the librarian's desk. There's no one behind the desk, but Nasir can see the black and red swivel chair, and a sign that says the librarian is out for lunch. There's a clipboard on the stand above the desk with a sign in sheet for a poetry reading next week. To the right are three cherry wood tables lined with six chairs on each side. 

The room in front of Nasir is lined with light wooden bookshelves except for a small area in the middle for the stairs. The light is almost orange in the room, the rows of books so close together Pietros and Chadara have to go first. Nasir walks behind them, his eyes trailing over the unmarked covers of old books. 

"Upstairs," Duro says, nodding after Chadara and Pietros.

Nasir climbs the black steps, the metal from the handrails cool under his freezing fingers. He makes a mental note to check his bags for gloves when he gets back to his dorm. 

He takes the steps two at a time, takes the second set of stairs slower. Nasir can already hear voices coming from the second floor, the stone walls visible, hallways leading off into different areas on the floor. The doors are wood here too, golden numbers on the windows above each door. The tiles on the floor are polished black tile and combined with the high roof they make the space seem more open than it is.

"There are more books upstairs," Chadara tells Nasir.

Some people wave at her as the four of them walk down the hallway. Duro gets stopped by a group and the only reason Chadara waits for him is because she gets stopped by another group further down the hall. Nasir stands on the side until she's done talking and he's glad when no one tries to introduce him to anyone else. 

Their classroom is number 243 halfway down the hall, across from a wall of famous alumni. There are four kids already sitting in the front of the room on the wooden desks. Chadara waves at them and walks to the back of the room. She takes the last seat at the right corner, Pietros takes the seat next to her, and Duro sits in front of Pietros. Nasir tries to move one of the desks so he can take the seat in front of Chadara, but the desks are nailed to the floor. The seats are the kind that students have to pull down to sit on, and Nasir ends up half climbing over one of the desks to get to his seat. 

"You could try out for the gymnastics team," Chadara comments.

Nasir just raises an eyebrow at her as he takes his seat. He ends up sideways on the bench so that he can look at the other three as they talk.

"But you do have to pick a team," Chadara says. "School policy."

"I do?" Nasir asks.

"Yeah," Duro nods. "You could try out for football, or soccer. The season is over until spring, but that means you're in time for tryouts."

"Agron's in football _and_ soccer," Chadara says rolling her eyes at Duro.

"Is he?" Duro asks, grinning.

"You and your brother are so obvious," she tells him.

Nasir shakes his head and he's glad when he catches Pietros rolling his eyes. The longer Nasir is with the group, the more he realizes that Pietros may be the only sane one.

"You could join the fencing team," Pietros says. "Or chess. Spartacus is in chess. He joined this semester because he hurt his knee playing soccer, so you'd have someone you know if you joined."

"About Spartacus?" Nasir asks, because that's who he's heard the least about.

"Straight and currently not dating," Chadara answers, looks over Nasir, and shrugs. "Although you could have a go."

"I didn't mean," Nasir starts, stops when he catches the smirk on Chadara's face. "He's not my type."

"Oh, what's your type then?" she asks, resting her cheek on her hand.

Nasir catches the way even Duro and Pietros have gone still. He shakes his head, not sure why he's so fond of people he doesn't even know yet. Chadara raises her eyebrows suggestively and Nasir tries to think of an answer that will satisfy her or keep her from asking anymore questions.

"What's yours?" Nasir asks hoping to distract her.

Pietros and Duro laugh, but it's more fond than mocking.

"So I like experimenting," Chadara shrugs. "There's nothing wrong with trying out different people. My mother always said that's the only way you'll know what you like."

"Yeah," Duro says raising an eyebrow, "but you tried going after Agron."

"And I backed off when he said he wasn't into girls," she shrugs. "I know when I'm not wanted."

Nasir thinks he's finally understanding why he likes these people so much. They accept each other, no judgments about Chadara or even about how Crixus is a bit of an asshole. They accept that Agron has his faults and everyone seems to like him anyway.

"You never tried going after me," Duro says, but he doesn't look offended, just interested.

"Too young," she says and Duro seems to accept that as reason enough.

"You're the same age," Nasir says, not sure if he's keeping everyone straight in his head.

"Yeah," Pietros says, "but Chadara likes older men."

"And Pietros would know all about that," Chadara winks. "Wouldn't you, Pietros?"

"Nasir doesn't want to know about that," Pietros answers, ducking his head.

"I want to hear about that," Duro says, leaning his elbow on Pietros desk. "I don't even remember what Barca looks like."

"Big," Chadara says. "But the point is, Barca's three years older than Pietros, and oh my god, you don't even know how they happened."

"You don't need to tell them," Pietros says, but he doesn't try to stop Chadara when she keeps going.

"Barca was dating this guy named Auctus," she says, folding her hands on her desk and leaning forward. "Then Pietros came along and no one even remembered what Auctus looked like."

"That's not what happened," Pietros snaps. "Barca broke it off with Auctus because Auctus went to college and Barca still had a year to go."

"Yeah, but he didn't wait long to start dating you, did he," Chadara winks. "And Barca didn't dump you now that he's in college with Auctus either."

"How hot was Auctus?" Duro asks, stretching out on his chair.

"Why does that matter?" Nasir asks him.

"I'm trying to decide how much game Pietros has."

"Enough," Chadara assures them.

Pietros glares at her but high fives Duro anyway.

-

Nasir loses track of what his afternoon classes are. All he knows is that at the end of the day he was piles of work to do, somewhere between 100 to 200 pages of material to read, and no desire to do anything other than curl up under his blankets and get warm. Chadara takes pity on him on their walk back to the dorm building and lets Nasir put on her gloves. She waves off his thanks and sticks her hand in his jacket pocket, the other one in Duro's, because Pietros leaves them halfway through their walk back after he gets a text from Barca.

"Remember," Duro calls after Pietros. "Just because you're at the age of consent doesn't mean you actually have to consent."

"Screw yourself," Pietros says, waiving.

"Just wait until you meet Barca," Chadara says as they start walking again. "You're not going to believe how adorable he and Pietros are."

"Jealous," Duro grins.

"Yes."

Nasir decides he likes Chadara because she doesn't lie. He appreciates her frankness and the way she handles herself. She lent him her gloves. He thinks he officially loves her. Duro also is surprisingly less intimidating without Agron, his smiles sincere. Nasir likes them better in threes, when their sheer numbers don't overwhelm him. He appreciates their kindness, the way they'd tried to include him into their group, but there are only so many people he can take on his first day.

They have a ten minute walk to their dorm building. It's across from the soccer field, just another huge expanse of snow with a tree at the end closest to the road. The building itself is only two floors, but with three different sections of red walls with a white roof. The doors are automatic and there's warm air blowing over Nasir's face as soon as he steps in.

The door opens into a common area with a TV, a large black couch and three dark blue armchairs. Directly to the right are stairs leading up to the boys' rooms, the left to the girls' rooms. Dinner is at six in the third section of the building through the hallway past the common area. 

Chadara leaves first, and Duro's room is on the first floor so Nasir has to climb the stairs to the second floor alone. He's thankful for the silence, especially since his floor is the quieter of the two. His room is at the end of the hall of polished black doors, five doors away from the bathrooms.

Nasir digs his key out and unlocks the door. He sighs when he sees that his roommate isn't in yet. It gives Nasir time to really look at the room and to relax away from everyone. He has the top bunk of the beds pushed to the right of the room. There's a large window that takes up most of the wall opposite the door, but the white blinds are closed over it. The closets are on either side of the door, two desks line the left wall. The space in the middle of the room is covered with a gray carpet and someone pushed Nasir's suitcases right by what he's assuming is his closet. 

The clock on Nasir's roommate's desk says there's half an hour to dinner time so Nasir doesn't even bother unpacking. He sprawls out on the carpet and waits until six before going downstairs.

Dinner turns out to be quiet for the most part. Nasir thinks it's because Oenomaus glares at everyone who talks too loud. And even though Nasir ends up sitting between Agron and Crixus, it's not so bad. Agron asks about Nasir's day, then listens, the back of his hand brushing Nasir's as they eat. He sits a bit too close, but Nasir doesn't mind the warmth radiating off Agron's leg. Crixus does his best to ignore the two of them throughout dinner.

After, Oenomaus and Melitta herd the fifty or so of them into the common area. Naevia, Crixus, Spartacus, and Mira all squish onto the black couch. Nasir ends up there too, half sitting on Mira's lap. Agron frowns when he sees the five of them pressed together on the couch, but lets Duro take the arm by Nasir's side. Gannicus takes the arm of Lugo's armchair, swiping at Agron's head when he sits on the floor, half of his back against Nasir's legs.

The rest of the people file in, some sitting on the floor. Chadara, Pietros and Donar take the rest of the armchairs. Saxa's last to come in, but she shoves Donar off his chair and throws herself on it. Nasir is a little impressed. Donar doesn't protest and Saxa pats him on the head when he leans against her leg.

Oenomaus and Melitta wait in front of the TV as everyone settles down. From where he's sitting, Nasir can see Castus standing in the back, furthest from the group.

"The quieter you are," Oenomaus says, his voice carrying even over everyone else, "the faster we'll finish this."

"Finish what," someone calls from the back.

"Shut the fuck up. Oenomaus is talking," someone else answers.

"Thank you, Nemetes," Oenomaus says. "I wanted you all here because we have a new student."

Nasir does his best to disappear into the couch. Mira notices and squeezes his hand. He shoots her a grateful smile and tries not to meet anyone's eyes.

"His name's Nasir," Lugo says, but thankfully doesn't point out where Nasir is sitting.

"Right," Melitta says. "And if he wants to introduce himself we'll let him do it later. But this is a good time to go over the rules and to introduce the prefect for this semester."

"Lights out at ten. Keep the place clean. Thank the matron who makes your food," Oenomaus tells them. "Melitta's word and mine are law. Listen to your prefect."

"Wait, hang on," Agron interrupts. "So we only have one prefect again this year?"

Nasir tries to mentally ask his question and he must look confused enough because Melitta elaborates.

"We like to have a different prefect each semester," she says. 

"That way our students learn leadership skills," Oenomaus explains. "Our goal is to find someone, _anyone_ , who will represent and uphold this school's morals and principles."

"But when we choose a senior as prefect we like to have two of them because we understand that they have extra work with college applications on top of their usual schoolwork," Melitta tells them.

"Except all the seniors suck," Crixus says. "And I'd take Agron seriously before any of them."

"They make a fuck of a lot more sense than you do," Agron answers, not bothering to move.

Nasir catches Duro's eyes and he has to duck his head to keep from laughing.

"Seriously," Gannicus says. "You're going to go with _that_?"

"What the fuck are you looking at me for," Agron shrugs. "He's the one who's taking me seriously."

"Point," Donar nods.

"Do you think we could let Oenomaus finish?" Naevia asks.

"Everyone shut the fuck up," Crixus yells over the low hum of conversation.

"Saxa was prefect once," Agron says, ignoring Crixus, and looking up at Nasir. "Oenomaus and Melitta wanted her to do it for the entire year."

"Because I'm the best, bitch," Saxa calls from where she's sprawled out on her dark blue armchair.

"Because she scared everyone into doing what she wanted," Gannicus tells Nasir.

"I wasn't scared," Lugo says, rolling his eyes at Saxa.

"Yeah, well, fuck you, Lugo."

"You say when." 

Saxa snatches Donar's hat off his head and throws it at Lugo's head. It catches him on the left side of his face, but all Lugo does is glare. Saxa blows him a kiss.

"Do you remember when Gannicus was prefect," one of the kids in the back calls out.

"Fuck yeah," Gannicus says, throwing both fists up in the air.

"No one fucking slept that semester," Agron says. "You were the best fucking prefect ever."

Gannicus and Agron high five as the students in the room start talking over each other again. 

"So who's the prefect now?" Nasir asks.

Oenomaus and Melitta shoot him grateful looks and the room quiets down again.

"Castus," Melitta says motioning Castus over.

"You must be fucking _kidding_ me," Agron snarls. "You made _him_ prefect but not me?"

"In all honesty, Agron," Melitta says. "Out of everyone here, you've been caught out of bed the most. Your lights are almost always on when we come to check at eleven, and you keep, not only yourself, but your brother up as well."

"Duro can sleep through anything," Agron says. "And it didn't have to be me. Couldn't Nemetes be prefect? Or Donar? Fuck, you could have made Lugo prefect. Anyone, _anyone_ , but him."

"Enough," Oenomaus says. "We made our decision and you will respect it. That goes for everyone."

Agron mutters something under his breath and glares at Castus.

Nasir doesn't understand the hostility. Castus hasn't even said anything and no one's given Nasir a reason for why Agron dislikes Castus so much. Castus hasn't even responded. He's standing by Melitta, eyes searching the crowd of students. Nasir feels when those eyes land on him and he shifts in his seat suddenly uncomfortable.

Mira notices, shoots him a look but doesn't say anything. Agron looks up though, sees Castus watching Nasir and stands up.

"Can we go now?" he asks, stepping sideways so that he's standing in front of Nasir.

"You can go," Oenomaus says. "Castus, why don't you show Nasir where everything is."

"I'll do it," Agron says when Castus nods. "Come on, Nasir. You don't need _him_ to show you around."

"I don't need anyone to show me around, thanks," Nasir says, trying to find a way off the couch. "I can figure it out on my own."

"I'll show you," Spartacus says from his end of the couch. "I'm on your floor."

Nasir nods at him. "Thank you," he says, glad that someone isn't making declarations Nasir isn't sure he want to acknowledge.

Agron moves as if to follow them, but Mira pulls him down on the couch. "What?" Agron asks.

Mira just shakes her head and Nasir follows Spartacus. All the other students start moving too, and Chadara waves on her way to her room. Nasir loses track of Pietros in the group of students, but he's glad no one else is trying to be helpful.

"I'm sorry about Agron," Spartacus says. "He's. A lot to handle."

Nasir shrugs. "He's just angry and kind of overconfident."

Spartacus laughs. "Yeah, he's working on it. But he's a good guy."

"Who just doesn't like Castus?"

"He doesn't," Spartacus says, but doesn't expand.

Spartacus takes Nasir on a quick tour of the second floor. There are two hallways parallel to each other, the bathroom halfway between both hallways. There's a water fountains two doors away from Nasir's room, another one right by the stairs. Spartacus's room is across from Nasir's. Pietros is three doors away. Agron and Duro, Nasir learns, are downstairs.

"Melitta and Oenomaus try to keep the loud people together," Spartacus explains.

Nasir laughs. "Are they really that loud?"

Spartacus shakes his head. "No one actually did sleep when Gannicus was prefect," he sighs. "They were so loud downstairs we had security called on us. I think that was the year that Melitta and Oenomaus gave up on us."

"Have you ever been prefect?" Nasir asks.

"No yet," Spartacus says, leaning on his door when he and Nasir get to it. "Melitta and Oenomaus are waiting for our senior year because it'll give them an excuse to make Saxa prefect again. I think they think that between the two of us, we'll be able to keep everyone in line next year."

"And are you going to?"

Spartacus laughs, "what do you think?"

"I don't know," Nasir says. "I don't really know any of you yet, but I'd be scared of Saxa."

"She'll like that," Spartacus nods.

Spartacus shifts onto his left knee, grimaces, and nods at Nasir's bedroom door. "Can I come in?" he asks. "I need to sit. My knee."

"Yeah, no, yeah," Nasir says, pushing his door open. "Sorry about the things everywhere."

"What things?" Spartacus asks, sitting down on Nasir's desk chair. "This is probably the cleanest room in the entire building. You'll like Castus if you think this is having stuff everywhere."

"Castus?"

"He's your roommate."

"Really?" Nasir asks, pleased. 

"Yeah, he's quiet. I think you'll like that after today," Spartacus says, smiling at the relief on Nasir's face. 

"It's not that I don't like you all," Nasir rushes to explain. "It's just—"

"—it's your first day," Spartacus nods. "You need time to get used to the school and now you have twenty friends."

"What if I forget their names?" Nasir asks, and he's only half joking.

"You just walk around nodding at everyone," Spartacus says, motioning at the empty chair, and Nasir sits. "I went a whole semester without saying anyone's name. After that you sort of just pick them up."

"But you know them all now?"

"Pretty much," Spartacus nods.

Nasir nods as he tries to think of a way to ask his question. He lets his eyes trail over the blue sheets on Castus's bed, the carefully tucked blankets. Nasir's bed is just as well made. It was the first thing he did when he got to the school, because there's something comforting about knowing Nasir has a place to sleep even if he isn't planning to unpack until tomorrow.

"Is Agron really on both the soccer and football team?" Nasir asks.

When he looks up, Spartacus is smiling.

"I'm just asking," he says. "Everyone says a lot of things and I don't really know if all of them are true."

"Just assume that all the things Agron doesn’t say for himself are true, and what he does say is also most likely true."

"So," Nasir says, raising an eyebrow at Spartacus, "he's on both teams. And he's co-captain?"

"Yeah, he and Crixus needed to learn how to work together," Spartacus says. "They have this semester to learn before I'm back on the team."

"What happened?"

"We were playing against these kids from the private school in the city. Their captain, Gaius, kicked me. I couldn't get back up," Spartacus shrugs. "That was it. I'm supposed to wait five months, and no soccer or football this year."

"Did you win?"

"Five to zero."

They grin at each other and Nasir is just getting ready to ask more questions when the door to the room opens. Castus leans by the door, his eyes trailing over Nasir and Spartacus. Up close, Nasir can see the earring he's wearing on his right ear and the gold chain around his neck. Both things stand out against the color of Castus's skin, and Nasir would be lying if he said he didn't stare.

"Hello," Castus smiles. 

"Hello," Spartacus says, getting up. "Let me know if you need anything, Nasir."

"Thanks."

Castus moves out of the way when Spartacus goes by, but they nod at each other. It's the most acknowledgment Nasir's seen anyone give Castus. 

"So, _you're_ Nasir," Castus says, shutting the door behind him. "I was starting to wonder when I'd see you."

"We saw each other downstairs," Nasir reminds him.

"Yeah, I was enjoying the view before Agron got in the way."

The contempt underneath the way Castus says Agron's name is the same that Nasir heard from Agron. He looks over Castus in his jeans and dark blue t-shirt and almost laughs when he realizes how much Agron and Castus remind Nasir of each other. They both look at him with the same appraising eyes, Castus's gaze lingering, more confident than Agron's had been that morning.

"Not going to happen," Nasir says.

"Oh, come on," Castus says, his wide smile directed at Nasir. "I didn’t even ask yet. What if I promise I'm really nice?"

It's hard not smile back, harder because Castus is actually attractive, and this is the second time in one day that an attractive guy has tried to flirt with Nasir. 

"Is that why everyone likes you so much?" Nasir asks.

"Ouch," Castus says, giving Nasir a mock hurt look. "You're going to be like that then?"

"If you're not going to take me seriously then, yeah."

"Okay, fine," he looks at Nasir. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"But you're okay with Agron doing it?"

"I'm not letting Agron do anything," Nasir frowns.

"Hey, no, it's cool, man," Castus says raising his hands out in front of him. "If that's what you like."

"It's none of your business what I like."

"Shit, you're right. I'm sorry. Start over," Castus sighs. "Hi, I'm Castus."

"Yeah, yeah," Nasir grins, "I've heard all that already."

Castus is nothing like Nasir expects. He's not much taller than Nasir, but he helps get the empty suitcases on the shelf on top of the closet. He also lets Nasir chose his which of the two desks he wants, and even offers to switch beds if Nasir would like the bottom bunk. Nasir takes the unoccupied desk, says no to the bottom bunk, and decides he may as well put his clothes away. 

"So did you pick a team to join yet?" Castus asks when Nasir finished putting away his things.

He has three different jackets in the closet, none which he thinks are going to be warm enough for winter. But, there are more sweaters than he expected, so Nasir will make due.

"I didn't," Nasir says, sitting on top of his desk, feet propped up on his chair. "But I think I'm going to try out for soccer. What are you on?"

"Nothing right now," Castus says. "I used to be on the soccer team, but I quit after Spartacus left."

"Why?"

Castus shrugs. "Agron doesn’t like me. I don't like him. I didn't want to start more trouble than he and I already cause."

"You shouldn't have to leave just because you don't like each other, though," Nasir tells him. "You're supposed to be mature about it and shit."

Castus laughs. "Yeah, well, we're not."

"What happened?"

"He's an asshole to me, so I don't like him. That's it. If you want to know why he doesn’t like me, you should ask him."

Nasir's curious because he thinks Castus and Agron might like each other if they actually talked, but he's not going to ask. It's none of his business and he has work to do. 

He spends the next three hours reading up on math theorems, grammar and punctuation, and chemical reactions. He gets maybe forty pages done out of his stack, writes something down for his earlier classes, and gives up.

"I fucking hate school," he tells Castus.

"I could tutor you," Castus offers. "I took all of that last year."

"I'm good," Nasir says. "I just don't want to do it."

" _Who_ ever wants to do their fucking homework?"

"I had a friend once," Nasir says, digging through the closet for his towel. 

"Can't even trust your fucking friends," Castus nods. "Do you need anything?"

Nasir shakes his head and walks down the hall to the bathroom. The showers are through a second door, four of them separated by thin walls, and closed off with shower curtains. Nasir takes the first one, dumps his things on the low white table outside of the actual shower head, and ties up his hair. 

He stopped cutting his hair the year his brother went to college. Nasir had told his parents that he wasn't going to let them cut it until they stopped moving around so much, or until they let him live with his brother. That hadn't worked out how Nasir had wanted, but his mother had let him keep his long hair until it got too hot in the summer and he'd asked to go to the barber.

Nasir keeps it shoulder length now, sometimes longer if he forgets he's supposed to get it cut, or if his family was in the middle of moving. It reminds him that at least his brother doesn’t have to move around anymore, that maybe if he's lucky, he doesn't have to leave this school either. It doesn't help, because Nasir knows better. He's moved so many times he can't even remember the name of the friend he meant when he was talking to Castus.

He sighs, showers as fast as he can and dresses into sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Nasir's just come back from his shower when there are three quick taps on the door. "Nasir," Duro's voice comes through the door. "Hey, Nasir, Agron wants me to ask you if you want to come watch a movie with us?"

"Can Castus come," Nasir calls back.

"Hey, Agron," Duro yells. "Nasir wants to know if Castus can come?"

"It's okay," Castus tells him. "You go."

Nasir shakes his head. "I think I want to sleep actually."

"Nasir," Duro calls out, "open the door. Spartacus is glaring at me."

He opens the door and Duro walks in, narrows his eyes at Castus but doesn't say anything. He throws himself down on the carpet and grins at Nasir.

"Agron said that he's inviting you, not Castus."

"Why'd he send you?" Nasir asks, sitting on Castus's bed. "Why didn't he come ask me himself?"

"He thinks you're mad at him because you don't want him to show you around," Duro says. "And because he doesn't like Castus."

"And you do?"

"No."

"Don't worry," Castus says leaning his chair back to look at Duro. "The feeling's mutual."

Duro wrinkles his nose at Castus. "So," he says looking back at Nasir, "are you coming?"

Nasir shakes his head. "I'm going to sleep."

"Okay," Duro says sitting up. "But don't blame me when Agron comes up here."

"Who says I'm going to open the door," Nasir answers.

Duro laughs. "I fucking told him he was going to have to try harder," he says as he goes out the door.

Nasir gets up and goes after him when Duro doesn't close the door. 

"Tell him if he wants me to go watch a movie with him, he has to come ask me himself," he calls out after Duro.

Duro waves a hand at Nasir in acknowledgment. 

"So, Agron?" Castus asks when Nasir closes the door. " _Really_?"

Nasir just shakes his head and switches the lights off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I am going to have to take off until Monday because real life, but TA DA I'VE INTRODUCED ALL THE CHARACTERS. Thank you guys for being awesome. You win all the awards.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait," Nasir says, because he knows he didn't hear Castus right. "We're the _what_?"

"The Alpine High Warriors," Castus grins. "We are fucking _warriors_ , Nasir."

Nasir refuses to believe it, but then Castus shows him the team jacket. The thing is dark blue and white, with the number 13 across the back below Castus's name.

"You're serious," Nasir says.

"You still want to join?"

"I don't even fucking know."

But Nasir _is_ sure because he's given this a lot of thought. He's been at the school for two weeks. It's halfway through January. There's still snow all over the campus, and it just gets colder the longer Nasir is at the school. He also happens to be completely out of shape and he's too small for football. Not that Nasir hadn't thought about it. Then Chadara had taken him to the gym where the football team was already practicing, and everyone was so fucking _tall_. So Nasir decided he was going to try out for soccer, because Spartacus was great, but Nasir wasn't joining chess.

"I'm going to class," Nasir sighs. "Maybe when I get back we'll have a better team name."

"Oh, come one," Castus laughs. "I haven't even told you about the Capua High Romans."

Nasir leaves, goes to class, and is glad that at least they aren't the Alpine High Gladiators, though it's a missed opportunity with Capua High as their main rivals.

-

Nasir settles down into school once he works out his plans for tryouts later in the year. He learns the names of everyone who he sits with at lunch, convinces Castus that they should try out for soccer together, and Spartacus offers to help them train. The team name doesn't get any less painful, but Nasir tells himself the jackets are worth it.

It's the last week of January when Nasir starts to regret his decision to join the team. Spatacus makes Nasir run laps in the indoor track of the high school gym every day, before class and during free period. After classes, Nasir is supposed to run around campus. Castus promised to practice with Nasir, but Castus is rarely there when Nasir runs in the indoor track. Mostly because Castus gets up at ridiculous hours of the morning to get to the indoor track before anyone else, and Nasir can't comprehend waking up that early. 

"I like it better when there are no people yelling," Castus had said when Nasir asked him about it.

Nasir understands the need for silence. He's come to understand that Castus is outgoing, but can't be at the school because he's an outsider. So Castus runs when he can be alone, no judgment. 

Nasir, on the other hand, has to run on the narrow, one lane track, fifteen feet above the treadmills and weights of the gym. Spartacus usually sits at one of the four raised platforms that make up the corners of the circular track, and watches. There's always noise from the people working out below, and it's a welcome distraction as Nasir runs. He also doesn’t mind the smooth, brown track he's running on, or the shirtless guys lifting weights below. The guys are probably the reason why Mira and Chadara start coming to watch Nasir run a week after he starts practice.

"You're not running fast enough," Chadara says.

Nasir takes a deep breath and tells himself that flipping her off won't make running any easier. He's getting better, and Castus promised that he'd start running with Nasir after classes just so Nasir has some idea of how fast he has to be.

After running, Spartaucs sends Nasir to do weights. Three minutes after Spartacus leaves though, Nasir goes straight for the showers. He comes out to sit on the bleachers next to Chadara on the first floor gym, watching Mira spot for Naevia, who is lifting weights. 

"Did you know Saxa's dating Gannicus?" Mira calls over to Chadara.

Nasir is only half listening. His body is loose from the warm water, calve muscles aching from all the running. He wants to sleep. Chadara is warm and comforting next to him, and Nasir rests his head on her shoulder. He feels Chadara's laugh like a soothing rocking motion. 

"Saxa doesn't date," she says.

"She's seeing him exclusively," Mira points out. "That counts as dating."

"No it doesn't," Chadara answers, leaning her head on top of Nasir's. "She's just making out with him exclusively. That's not the same thing."

"It should be," Mira says, as she helps Naevia off the chest press machine. "If she doesn't, she's going to end up just jumping from guy to guy because no one will take her seriously."

Chadara tenses up under Nasir. He looks up at her, but she's watching Mira. 

"Oh?" Chadara asks. "So no one takes me seriously?"

"She didn't mean it," Naevia says. 

Chadara shakes her head. "It's okay," she says. "I'm used to Mira just shoving her opinions into my face."

Nasir moves off Chadara, but she's smiling, doesn't seem the least bit offended. 

"I didn't mean it like that," Mira says, coming over to sit next to Chadara. "You know I didn't."

Naevia comes over to sit next to Nasir, and the two of them watch as Chadara lets Mira convince her that she didn't mean it.

"They're really cute," Naevia whispers. "Even if they are a bit messed up."

Nasir watches Chadara bump her shoulder against Mira's and he has to agree.

"Serious question though," Mira says, nudging Chadara's foot. "Why don't you just find someone you like and settle down?"

"First off," Chadara says, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm sixteen. I don't plan to settle down anytime soon. Second, it's all casual. And third, who says I don't want them all." 

"Yeah, but wanting is different from liking them," Mira says. "I mean, there's no way you can like them all."

"Why not?" Chadara asks, leaning back against the bleachers. "What if I do like them all?"

"Then why do you end it so fast?"

Chadara's smile is wide as always, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "Maybe I do like them all," she says, letting her eyes trail over Mira's face. "And maybe, they don't like me back."

She glances at Nasir and Naevia almost as if she's waiting for a reaction. It's painfully obvious what Chadara is not quite saying, what Mira's missing. Nasir offers Chadara a small nod, and her smile softens before she turns back to Mira.

-

Castus is a master when it comes to running. He does so flawlessly, his strides long, breath even throughout. They start by the entrance to the gate surrounding the school campus, follow it as it loops around the dorms, cut through the field separating the dorms from the class buildings, and that makes one lap. Nasir is panting by the fifth lap. By the sixth, he has to stop. He watches Castus run past him, his legs barely touching the ground when he runs. Nasir waits for Castus to come back around and follows, trying to keep pace. It's obvious, half a lap later, that Nasir is going to have to stop.

"How long did it take for you to be able to run like that?" Nasir asks between pants.

Castus slows down until Nasir can take long strides to keep up. "I don't think I ever had to work too hard," he says. "It kind of just happened."

"Oh yeah?" Nasir glares. "Well, fuck you, and your genes."

Castus grins and starts running again, but he goes slower. Nasir would tell him to fuck off if he didn't feel like his heart was trying to climb out of his throat.

They run for another half hour and get back to the dorm with just enough time to shower before dinner. Castus smirks as they walk to the bathroom together, but refrains from making any inappropriate comments. Nasir just rolls his eyes and goes straight for the shower closest to the door, the one with the better water pressure. Castus retaliates by taking the stall next to Nasir and singing as he showers, each song more ridiculous than the last until Nasir is laughing.

Dinner is the loud as always, though Mira makes a point to sit next to Chadara, and even buys her a soda. Chadara laughs, but takes it, her pretty blonde hair hiding the blush on her cheek from Mira. Duro spends dinner trying to get bits of his napkin into Pietros's cup, and Agron spends it rolling his eyes at Duro. Castus had disappeared almost as soon as he and Nasir walked into the dining room, and Nasir hasn't seen him since. 

"Do you know what we should do?" Agron asks, watching Duro roll up his napkin for a sixth try.

"What?" Nasir asks, shifting closer to Agron in order to move Pietros's cup closer to Duro. 

Duro grins, aims, and misses.

"That's pathetic," Agron says, throwing his napkin at Duro when Duro flips him off.

"We should watch a movie," Duro yells down the table. "Hey, Nasir. Want to come over and watch a movie with me?"

"Fuck you, Duro," Agron calls back.

Nasir watches them, amused, and decides that he could do with a movie. Which is how the three of them end up squeezed into the two-person sofa in Duro and Agron's room.

"Mom bought it for us," Duro says.

Their mom had also bought them a 32-inch TV, a DVD player, and a stack of DVDs. They end up watching Iron Man 2, but have to stop midway because Nasir hasn't seen the first Iron Man movie.

"There are some really crappy movies with good sequels," Agron tells Nasir, as Duro switches DVDs. "And then there good movies that should have never had sequels. Iron Man is one of those movies."

" _You_ shouldn't have sequel," Duro says, flopping down on the couch again.

"That makes no sense," Agron says. 

Duro rolls his eyes, "You don't make any sense," he says. 

Agron says nothing and moves over until he's pressing Duro into the arm of the sofa. Nasir watches them shove at each, and remembers his brother. He's hit with a sudden pang of nostalgia as he watches Agron throw an arm across Duro's shoulders. It's why he lets himself lean into Agron's side and says nothing when Agron throws his other arm around Nasir. 

They watch the first Iron Man movie, and Duro falls asleep halfway through the second one. 

"Do you want me to go?" Nasir asks, when he sees Duro sleeping.

"No," Agron whispers, turning his eyes away from Nasir.

He's concentrating so hard on the TV screen that Nasir is sure Agron isn't paying attention. 

"I'll stay," Nasir says, settling down further on the sofa. 

Agron exhales loudly, and nods.

-

Half of February goes by without Nasir noticing it. He runs drills with Spartacus before classes, listens to Chadara and Mira cheering him on from the sides, pretends to do some weight exercises, and then goes to class. In the afternoons, he runs with Castus until an hour before dinner. And in the evenings, he, Agron, and Duro watch a movie, or whatever show is on TV that Duro is into. Agron spends the better part of the evening denying he actually likes whatever is on TV, but Nasir can see right through him. He is actually starting to look forward to meeting Agron after dinner, even if Castus wolf-whistles every time Nasir comes back to their room after.

"You can shut up," Nasir says, when he comes back from watching the fourth Star Wars movie.

"I didn't even say anything this time," Castus laughs from his bed. 

Nasir drags his chair away from his desk to the edge of their beds. Sometime at the end of January, he and Castus had decided to make turn their beds into bunk beds so they could have more room. All that did was make a huge, unnecessary space to the left of the room. But it's too much trouble for them to put the beds back the way they were, even if Nasir has to use his desk chair to climb into bed every night.

"We should put the beds back where they were at some point," Nasir says, slipping under his sheets.

"We're not going to," Castus says, between yawns. "Too much work."

Nasir tries to say something else, but is cut off by his own yawn. He forgets what it was he was trying to say, and doesn't even notice how he falls asleep.

The music is what knocks Nasir out of his dream what feels like minutes later. It takes a minute for Nasir to realize that he's not dreaming, and that the loud thumping in his ears is actually Beyoncé.

"What the fuck is that?" he hears Castus whisper from the bottom bunk.

"That's Single Ladies," Nasir says, leaning over the side of the bed. "Why is Single Ladies playing at five in the fucking morning?"

"It's probably someone from downstairs," Castus sighs, sliding out of bed.

"And you’re prefect—"

"—so it's my fucking job to go see what the fuck they're doing."

"Who the fuck?" Nasir sighs, rolling onto his back. "Couldn't they wait for the weekend?"

"I'm just glad they waited a month before doing stupid shit."

"Maybe they do like you."

Castus laughs. "Or maybe Agron just didn't want to bother _you_."

"If it was Agron, I'm going to kill him," Nasir says, amused despite himself. "At least it's good music."

"I'm rolling my eyes at you," Castus tells him.

Nasir sits up in his bed. There's enough light coming through the blinds to cast shadows on the wall above their desks, and for Nasir to make out the outlines of everything in their room. He hears Castus pulling on a shirt and kicking things around on the floor as he looks for his shoes.

"Oh crap," Nasir says, leaning over to watch Castus. "You put on your school shirt. This must be some serious shit."

"If you wanted me to keep my shirt off all you had to do was ask," Castus says.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"But what's the point in having a roommate if we can't appreciate each other's good looks?"

"Just go make them shut up," Nasir says, falling back onto his bed.

He hears Castus's laughter in their room, before he opens the door and walks out. About twenty minutes later, the music stops. It takes Castus another ten minutes to come back into their room. Nasir can hear him kicking off his shoes and climbing into his bed. The quiet is such a relief that Nasir forgets to ask who was making the noise as he falls asleep a second time.

His alarm clock rings too early, and Nasir is already reaching out a hand to turn it off. He realizes his phone is on his desk, all the way across the room, and he groans into his pillows. 

"Not getting it," Castus says. 

"Didn't ask you to," Nasir mutters, as he sits up on his bed.

"Aren't you supposed to be out running?" Nasir asks.

"No," Castus says, voice muffled. "We're taking the day off. Too tired."

"It was ten minutes," Nasir says, as he climbs off his bed and onto his desk chair. 

He jumps off the chair, and pulls it across the room to his ringing cellphone. Nasir hits the "stop" button on the phone, and sits on his chair to look at Castus. Castus has the sheets pulled up over his head, face buried in his pillow. It's barely seven in the morning, but Castus is usually just coming back from running at this hour.

"I'm not getting up," Castus says, turning his head to look at Nasir. "I deserve a day off."

"I didn't say anything," Nasir assures him. 

Castus mutters something that's muffled into his pillow, and Nasir shakes his head fondly at him. He doesn't see Castus for the rest of the day, and Agron doesn’t make it to math class that morning. Agron isn't at lunch either, and Nasir wouldn't think anything of it if Castus hadn't had to get up last night.

"Was Agron the one making the noise last night?" Nasir asks Duro, as they leave the lunchroom.

"It was them," Pietros say, glaring in Duro's direction. "Right next to my room."

"Sorry," Duro says, throwing an arm around Pietros. "We didn't mean to. It was all Gannicus's fault."

"Is he in trouble?" Nasir asks. "Is that why he didn't come to class?"

"He's not in trouble," Chadara says, slowing down so she can walk side by side with Nasir. "We don't get in trouble for noise anymore. Agron's probably just sulking."

"He's not sulking," Duro says. 

Chadara snorts in disbelief, and Duro ignores her. The three of them walk together until they get to the edge of the high school campus. Pietros stops at the narrow road that leads off into the college campus.

"I should go see Barca," he says. 

Duro leans into Pietros's side and stares past the large field at the buildings in the distance. Nasir has never been to the college, and none of the college people ever come to the high school. He's pretty sure there's a rule against high school kids going over to the college too.

"Are you going now?" Duro asks. "You haven't been over there all week."

"No," Pietros says. "He's busy."

"Since when has Barca been too busy for you?" Chadara asks, going over to stand on Pietros's other side. She and Duro glare at the college campus in the distance, Pietros squeezed between them. 

"We got into a fight," Pietros tells them.

Chadara nudges Pietros until he rests his head on her shoulder. She runs her fingers through his curls, and whispers into his ear. Nasir watches them fondly. He forgets about Spartacus and practice until Duro detaches himself from Pietros and comes over.

"I'll walk you," he says. "Chadara is better at comforting. I'd just tell Pietros how stupid Barca is, and he doesn’t like that."

"I don't even know Barca, but I kind of hate him," Nasir says, watching as Chadara leads Pietros away towards study hall.

"It's Pietros," Duro nods. "It's just wrong when he's sad. Kind of like seeing a sad puppy."

"Kind of like you," Nasir says.

Duro glares at him. "No."

"It is a bit," Nasir says. "You and Pietros just shouldn't be sad."

Duro and Nasir argue about whether or not Duro is actually a sad puppy all the way to the indoor track. Then, because Duro says he has nothing better to do, he stays and watches Nasir run. Duro is good company because he yells encouragement at the right times and even distracts Spartacus so Nasir can leave early.

By the time classes are over, Nasir still hasn't seen Castus so he skips the afternoon run. He ends up at the school library with Naevia, catching up on the work for the week. The pile of work Nasir had when he first moved into the school is down considerably. He only has two papers to write, and then he'll have caught up with the rest of the sophomores. 

Naevia is taking time to read his papers, even as she works on her own schoolwork.

"I love you," Nasir tells her. "Really."

Naevia smiles at him. "Good," she says. "I do too."

Nasir leaves first since Naevia says she still has work to do and will probably miss dinner. 

"It's okay," she says. "Mira always saves me something."

It's getting dark when Nasir leaves the library, his backpack hanging off one shoulder. He stuffs his hands into his coat pockets, and tries to sink into his coat collar. He's walking down the library steps when he sees Duro and Agron leaning against the library wall to Nasir's far left. He's is on his way over to say hello when he sees the anger on Agron's face.

"I'm going to punch him in his stupid fucking _face_ ," Agron says kicking at the wall next to Duro. "I swear to fucking god. I will _kill_ him." 

Nasir doesn't need Agron to clarify who he's talking about. Agron never talks about anyone else like that, and frankly, Nasir thinks it's getting old. He knows it's none of his business what happened, or happens, between Agron and Castus. If they want to kill each other, fine. But it's hard to listen to both of them rant about each other when Nasir likes them both. He also knows that if they actually just talked, they'd probably be good friends. They have the charmingly obnoxious thing going for them. 

"I'm not saying I wouldn't help you," Duro is saying. "But you shouldn’t let him get to you. You don't want to get expelled."

"I wouldn't let you help me," Agron tells him. "You'd just get your ass kicked."

"Fuck you," Duro says rolling his eyes and sliding down to sit on the ground with his back against the wall. "I am a fucking _warrior_."

Agron slaps the back of Duro's head and laughs when Duro glares at him. They're quiet and Nasir knows he should just walk past them and go to his room. He's already heard more than he has any right to. Nasir doesn’t move though. He thinks it's because Agron doesn’t look angry anymore. He's looking down at his feet, shoulders hunched as if he's protecting himself from something. Nasir thinks it could be the intent on Duro's face.

"You know Castus said that just to fuck with you, right?" Duro whispers, closing one eye against the setting sun as he looks at Agron. "He wouldn't report you, and Nasir wouldn't say that about you. Castus's just been wanting to pick a fight with you for ages, and he knows how much you like the Nasir."

"Which is why I'm going to beat the shit out of him."

Duro makes as if to move away from the wall, and Nasir panics. He can't walk over to them now because they'll think he's been eavesdropping. And even though he has, Nasir doesn't want them to know that. It feels wrong to have heard Duro talking about Agron liking Nasir so openly. It's not something Nasir didn't know. It's just been easier to ignore it up until now. He'd had classes to catch up on, and too many new people in his life. It was better when he didn't think about it, then Nasir didn't have to think about how maybe he might like Agron back.

Nasir exhales softly, rearranges his backpack on his shoulder, and takes two steps back towards the entrance of the building. He makes it halfway there when Naevia comes out.

"Nasir," she says, stops when she sees his pained expression.

"Hey," he winces. 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Nasir says, trying to tell Naevia to shut up with his eyes. "I’m just going back to the dorms."

"I'll come with you. I gave up on getting anything done."

Nasir nods, thinks _fuck it_ , and walks down the stairs and in the direction of Duro and Agron. Duro is crouched on the floor when Nasir and Naevia pass by, and he has a cigarette now. Agron snatches it back and looks away when he sees Nasir.

"Hey Nasir," Agron says, much less enthusiastic than Nasir is used to, and ducking his head. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the dorm," Naevia answers. "Dinner's in an hour and a half."

"We'll walk with you," Agron tells her.

They walk back together, and Agron stays as far away from Nasir as he can. Nasir follows his lead, irrationally fearful that somehow Agron knows that Nasir overhead him talking to Duro. The silence from Agron is strange, wrong. It puts Nasir on edge, and he knows it has something to do with whatever Castus told Agron last night. 

The entire walk puts Nasir in a bad mood, and he's already halfway to being angry when he gets back to his room. Castus is sorting through his clothes when Nasir walks through the door. He turns to say hello, but Nasir cuts him off.

"What did you say to Agron?"

"Nothing," Castus frowns. "I try not to talk to him."

"Don't fuck with me, Castus."

"I'm not. I haven't said anything to him since— _oh_."

Nasir goes over to sit on Castus's bed, narrows his eyes and does his best to glare down Castus. It does nothing because Castus doesn’t even look slightly sorry when he sits on his chair.

"I may have suggested that you were pissed at him for the noise," Castus shrugs. "But you can't blame me for that. It was five in the morning, and I never said he and I were mature about this shit."

Castus has a point. It's not as though Nasir expected more from him and Agron, especially not with the way they can't seem to stop glaring at each other whenever they're in the same room. Nasir can appreciate that Castus is being honest, even if Nasir is pissed that Castus thought he could talk on Nasir's behalf.

"Don't do it again," Nasir tells him. "I'm so fucking serious. You don't get to talk for me."

Castus nods. "Yeah," he says. "I get that. I respect that. But Agron was being an asshole and he doesn’t own you either."

"What?" 

"I just think he gets confused too, sometimes," Castus shakes his head. "He thinks no one's allowed to get close to you because he saw you first."

Nasir shuts his eyes and leans back on Castus's bed. He can feel the start of a pounding headache and the entire thing is stupid. It's barely the beginning of Nasir's school year. Sometimes he still forgets that he has to take a left to get to study hall if he's coming from the recreation building, and a right if he's coming from the track. He doesn’t need a relationship on top of this, not one where the guy is possessive even before they've made anything official.

"I don't belong to anyone," Nasir says, through gritted teeth. 

"I know, man."

"I don't need a relationship."

"You don't."

"He's stupid attractive though."

Castus rolls his eyes and starts flipping through his notebook. Nasir sighs, rolls off Castus's bed to lie on their rug. He stares at the uneven coats of paint on the ceiling trying to understand what he wants. Nasir likes movie night, likes Agron sitting next to him as they go through the list of crappy movies Duro wants to watch. He likes the way Agron watches him, how he makes sure Nasir always has a seat wherever they're together. Nasir can see how never protesting and always sitting next to Agron can be seen as a declaration, but Nasir isn't a _thing_ and he needs to make sure Agron understands that.

"I'll see you at dinner," Nasir says, getting up and going for the bedroom door.

"Try not to break his attractive face."

"Fuck you."

Castus turns half his body around to leer at Nasir. The question is already halfway out of his mouth when Nasir shakes his head. 

"No," Nasir says. "Don't even go there."

Castus's laughter follows Nasir out into the hallway. He shakes his head, but can't help the grin that breaks out across his face. He manages to rein it in by the time he knocks on Agron's door.

"It's open," Agron calls out.

"Duro, leave," Nasir says as he steps into the room.

"Duro's not here."

Agron is sitting at his desk, dressed in his usual jeans and white t-shirt. He turns his chair to face Nasir at the doorway, the tired smile on his face disappearing at whatever he sees on Nasir's face.

I'm not a thing, Agron," Nasir glares. "You can't just call dibs or whatever the fuck you're doing."

"I…" Agron stops, ducks his head. "I know. It's just. I'm sorry."

Nasir's self-righteous anger dies in his chest at the look on Agron's face. 

"What is it?" Nasir asks.

Agron shakes his head, flinches when Nasir moves closer to sit on Duro's empty chair. "It's nothing," he says.

"Bullshit."

Agron shrugs, "It's not like it matters."

"Why doesn't it matter?" Nasir asks, frowning. 

He's angry, but he's never seen this side of Agron and it's throwing him off. Nasir is used to Agron's smiles, the small touches, and the cocky grin he wears for everyone else. He's not used to hurt in Agron's eyes, fear hidden in the downturned corners of his mouth.

"Castus probably already told you," Agron shrugs, turning his face away from Nasir.

"You don't know Castus," Nasir sighs, exasperated. "He's not the kind of guy who would say things about you just because he could."

"Like knowing him would do me any good," Agron snaps back. "He's the one who started this shit, anyway."

"What?"

Agron fidgets on his chair, runs a hand through his hair, and buries his face in his hands. Nasir waits, watches the way Agron's shoulders hunch inward, the slope of his back. He tries to tell himself that he's watching because he's concerned, but Nasir knows better. He has a tendency to just _stare_ at Agron, to know what Agron is doing because Nasir pays attention.

"The guy who Castus…there was a guy in freshman year, the first guy who actually liked me back," Agron whispers. "No one liked me, okay. I was awkward as fuck, and then Duro and I hit our growth spurt, and suddenly everyone wanted to talk to me. I joined the stupid football team and the soccer team, and Spartacus had always been my friend, but then everyone else was talking to me."

Agron sighs, and Nasir wants to tell him that it's okay, but he doesn’t think it's his turn to talk yet. Agron's hands are shaking, and he's breathing hard through his nose. The best Nasir can think of to do is drag his chair closer to Agron's, let their knees bump together.

"I really liked him," Agron says to Nasir's knees. "But then Castus came in sophomore year, and he was such hot shit. So fucking _interesting_ , and he couldn't keep his hands _to his fucking self_."

Nasir waits, but Agron doesn’t say anything else. He sits there with his hands in his hair, bent over his knees. He kicks half-hearted at Nasir's shoes and Nasir kicks back until Agron looks up.

"If it makes you feel any better," he says, holding Agron's stare. "You interest me."

Agron grins, the tension leaving his shoulders. He leans forward into Nasir's space until their foreheads are touching. Nasir tries not to breathe too loud, doesn't know if he's going to move away or not. But Agron just nudges the inside of Nasir's knee with his own until Nasir understands that he's supposed to look up.

"Does he interest you too, though?" Agron asks.

There's nothing but sincerity in Agron's green eyes, earnestness written all over his face. 

"Not in the same way," Nasir says. 

Agron's eyes go soft, fond as he looks at Nasir. It's hard not to respond, but Nasir pulls away. He makes sure Agron is looking at him, really watching before he speaks. "I'm not a thing," he says. "You don’t get to treat me like I am."

Agron swallows, his eyes darting over Nasir's face. "I'm sorry," he whispers.

"You better be," Nasir answers. They sit there, Agron looking down at his shoes, and Nasir softens the fierceness of his words with a hand on Agron's knee and a tilt of his head. 

"Dinner?" Nasir asks.

"Yeah," Agron says. 

At dinner, Nasir sits on Agron's right side so there's an empty seat next to him. When Castus comes in, Nasir calls him over.

"Sit," he says to Castus.

Agron stiffens besides Nasir, but he doesn’t say anything. Castus glances at Agron, then narrows his eyes at Nasir but stays. 

"Tryouts are next week," Castus says, shifting closer to Nasir as Chadara sits. 

"Are you still trying out?" Chadara asks, leaning over Castus so she can look at Nasir.

Nasir bites on his lower lip to keep from smiling at the wide-eyed surprise on Castus's face as Chadara steals a string bean from his plate. Agron is deep in conversation with Lugo, who is sitting across the table, but he looks over at Nasir when he hears about the tryouts.

"You've been practicing alone?" he asks Nasir.

"No," Chadara says, rolling her eyes. "He's too pretty to practice alone. He's got Spartacus for indoor track and Castus for outdoor."

"Oh yeah, " Pietros says, coming in with Duro. "I've seen you guys running." 

Duro moves to let Pietros take the seat next to Lugo, sees Castus across from him, and glances over at Agron. Nasir waits, not sure what he's watching for, but Agron just rolls his eyes at Duro.

"Sit," Agron says, and Duro does.

"Hello, Castus," Pietros says, smiling, and Nasir is glad that Pietros doesn't look sad anymore. 

Castus grins at him. "Hello, Pietros," he mimics.

"Oh my god," Agron says. "Is there a single person in this entire school you haven’t flirted with?"

"No," Castus says, without missing a beat. "But it doesn’t always work. Didn't with you."

There's an awkward pause that none of them know how to break. It's as if the entire room goes quiet, even though Nasir knows Crixus didn't hear them and wouldn't care even if he had. Their group, Nasir realizes, must just be extra loud. 

There's a second, as Nasir looks at Agron's expression, where he thinks about getting out of the way. Then Agron sighs. "No," he says to Castus. "It didn't."

The two of them don't talk anymore after that, and Nasir thinks Castus might leave. He doesn’t, and Chadara and Pietros ask Castus questions about the soccer team as they eat. At one point, Duro interrupts them to remind everyone that he is also on the soccer team, but Chadara and Pietros ignore him. Castus goes along with it, answers everyone's questions, and doesn’t even flinch when Saxa barges into the dining room and says, "Are we finally adopting Castus?"

"We don't adopt people," Mira says.

Nasir notices that she's with Spartacus again. He tries his best not to make it obvious that he's looking to see what Chadara's reaction is. She rolls her eyes at him, and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder. Her hair hits Castus in the face, and then they're laughing. Chadara's hand is on Castus's arm, his fingers tangling in her hair to move it off his face. Nasir would think it was accidental the way that they happen to look like they're flirting, but he knows Castus saw the way Chadara was looking at Mira. 

Nasir watches as Mira takes in Chadara and Castus, and he's not surprised when Mira very pointedly does not sit next to Chadara. It makes Chadara smile, though she does her best to hide it.

"I'd let you adopt me," Castus says to Mira.

Nasir tries his best to stop himself from rolling his eyes, but between Castus and Agron, he doesn’t think he'll ever stop.

"I could," Mira says. "Do you clean?"

"His side of the room is so fucking clean," Nasir says, shaking his head. "It's weird."

"Yours is clean too," Castus says. 

"Yeah, because it's weird if your side is and mine isn't."

"You should just move in with us," Duro says, looking up from the pile of string beans on his plate. "We're nice."

"And loud," Spartacus says.

"That wasn't even our fault," Agron says, before Spartacus can go on. "Gannicus left his alarm radio in our room. I didn't know how to turn the stupid thing off."

"Yeah," Duro agrees. "I didn't want to be up at fucking five in the morning."

"No one wanted to be up at five in the morning," Nasir says.

Agron winces, "Sorry," he says.

Nasir bumps their knees together under the table, and smiles when Agron looks at him. 

Dinner goes by fast after that, and Nasir promises to go over to Duro and Agron's room as soon as he changes. He, Castus, and Chadara leave the dining room together, and she walks them to the boy's side of the dorms. 

"Thanks," she says, leaning up to give Castus a kiss on the cheek.

"Anytime," he tells her. 

She walks away, her blonde hair bouncing behind her. She turns when she gets to the other side of the room. "I like Castus," she calls back to Nasir. "I'm going to keep him."

"What was that?" Castus asks, when they get back to their dorm.

"What? Chadara?"

Castus shakes his head. "Dinner."

Nasir shrugs, as he takes off his school uniform. He tosses on an old t-shirt, pulls on shorts, and ties his hair back with a black hair tie.

"I like you. They like you. Deal with it," Nasir tells him. "And stop the shit with Agron. It's old now."

"I didn't mean to. With the guy he liked," Castus says, voice low. "I wouldn't have if I knew."

"I know," Nasir says. "I think he knows too."

"He's just mean and angry," Castus nods. "He's going to punch me in the face one day, and I'm going to have to hit him back. Even if he _is_ your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Nasir says. 

"Right," Castus teases. "Of course not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will get to everyone's comments, I promise. I am also really sorry for the delay, but life and then the spartacus reverse bang.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what to say. I know like ONE PERSON in fandom, and no one I know irl even watches Spartacus so this is like, me jumping headfirst into fandom. I promise to be super good about updating this. I think I'm going to be doing daily updates over at the kink meme and I'll update here every two days or so. 
> 
> A few things:  
> 1\. DURO IS ALWAYS ALIVE FOREVER AND EVER AMEN.  
> 2\. CASTUS IS THE BEST and he will be in this fic, and no, I am not going to make him an asshole. He has his own proper story just like he deserves.  
> 3\. I googled boarding schools so a lot of this is based on google searches, and there are some things I chose to ignore for the sake of the story.  
> 4\. The title for this story comes from the Fall Out Boy song, Young Volcanoes. That song is also the anthem of this fic.


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